A Quarter Century of Better Writing

There is both art and skill involved in turning random words into a sentence and a group of sentences into a paragraph and many paragraphs into a coherent narrative. Utah State University’s Writing Fellows program recently celebrated 25 years of helping students learn how to do just that.

The celebration, organized by program director Julie Foust Andrew, also included recognition of 27 current writing fellows who will graduate this spring [2015] along with introduction of 30 new program members.

“We are so proud of the Writing Fellows program,” said Vice Provost Laurens Smith. “This is truly one of the undergraduate gems of this institution.”

Along with Vice Provost Smith, other program supporters in attendance at the award ceremony were College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHaSS) Dean John C. Allen, Assistant Dean Dawn Kirby and English Department Head Jeannie Thomas.

Founded in 1990 and originally housed in CHaSS, the Writing Fellows model in 2001 was adopted into a university-wide program that helps students develop their writing skills by providing tutoring in specific classes at a faculty member’s request.

“We had a wonderful Writing Center that provided excellent services to students who went through its door,” said professor Joyce Kinkead, who began the program as the “Rhetoric Associates” a quarter of a century ago. “But, we wanted to be out around campus also, getting tutors directly involved in specific classes.”

Students who join the program as writing fellows must have a 3.0 grade point average as well as “outstanding writing and interpersonal communication skills” and a recommendation from a professor. During the interview process, prospective fellows are asked to edit and comment on a sample essay.

Students ultimately selected as fellows are chosen based on his or her application, writing samples and interview.

The success of the program and the benefits provided to both students being helped as well as the fellows providing that support is undeniable.

“I found my calling in the ed-tech industry,” said former writing fellow Brittany Bacon during the awards ceremony. “I currently support ‘Canvas,’ which is used at USU, and manage internal knowledge resources as the company’s lone knowledge curator. It’s my dream job and I would not have gotten here without my writing skills, all thanks to the Writing Fellows program.”

Bacon, who graduated from USU in 2007 was not the only former writing fellow to attend the program’s award ceremony. Jessica Nield began working in the Utah governor’s office of Economic Development as a communications specialist after she graduated from USU in 2012.

“All of the things we learned in our writing fellows class were extremely helpful in this job,” she said. “In fact, when I interviewed, one of the experiences the interviewers were most impressed by was the experience I had as a writing fellow.”

As helpful as it is to the writing fellows themselves, students from any and all majors, including art history, biology, music, nutrition, sociology and more also profit from the program.

“We particularly like to work with students who don’t get much help with their writing when they get into their major courses,” Andrew explained. “We don’t included just English classes. Any class that needs us is eligible.”

With 25 years of experience and scores of students and student-fellows benefitting from it, the Writing Fellows program not only continues to thrive, but to grow. There are more fellows this year than last, and more students expected to reap the benefit of their expertise as well.

“The Writing Fellows program clearly demonstrates the importance of writing to any student,” said Department Head Thomas. “It also demonstrates the university’s commitment to ensuring students get expert advice.”

To learn more about the Writing Fellows program, visit its website.

Writer: Kristin Middaugh, CHaSS communications director, kristin.middaugh@usu.edu